Four of the soldiers that surrounded Sonalius saw Riza and immediately rushed to her. Riza, however, simply stood stared at them with a fierce gaze. As they were getting closer, she finally showed signs of reacting as she muttered a few words.
"Light Absorption." Riza activated her inherited ability, and the soldiers quickly came to a halt. For a few moments they looked shocked, but they quickly recovered. Relying on their sense of hearing, touch, and their sixth sense, they became extremely defensive. With daggers in hand, they raised their hands to block any attacks.
"Stay close! I do not know what accursed ability she used, but we have to keep defending!! For honor, for King Sig'car!" One of the warriors shouted as the rest followed suit, "For honor, for King Sig'car!"
"Hmmph." Riza coldly snorted while dashing towards them. With a knife in one hand and another hand in the shape of a claw, she tried to break their defense. However, it was like they could still see her every move and blocked her just in the nick of time. Their quick reactions caused her to be unable to injure them with basic attacks. No matter how she tried to slash or maul at them, they swiftly stepped backward or to the side to dodge.
"Hah, is this all a human can do?" One of the four spoke in disdain.
Riza quickly became enraged as her killing intent rose. She exploded from anger and rushed in. With her dagger, she filled it with light energy and stabbed them with all her force. Just as the edge of the blade about to pierce one of the lychni, they all smiled elatedly. Riza suddenly felt something was amiss, but it was already too late for her to react.
Puchi!
Blood flowed as Riza looked down. There were four of them looking at her with a contemptuous gaze, while another one appeared and stabbed her in the stomach. A middle-aged lychnus with one red right eye and one yellow eye appeared before Riza's eyes.
Stumbling back, she looked at the five lychni in disbelief, wondering where the other person came from.
"Thank you, Leo. If it wasn't for your illusions, this girl would have been a hassle. What an annoying ability she has." One of them said.
"Annoying ability? Humph, you guys need to learn to sense through your auras, otherwise, you'll always be weak and caught off guard like this human." Leo said while shaking his head. The rest of the guards nodded their heads and laughed.
"I-I'm not dead yet." Riza struggled to get to her feet as blood gushed out. She looked pale and was stumbling towards them. The guards, who were just celebrating, were shocked.
"Oh? So she can still stand after taking such a hit?" Leo laughed and said while waving his right hand, "It's a good thing that we need you aliv-" Just before he could finish his sentence, Leo saw one of his lackeys quickly dash forward and was about to stab Riza in the heart.
"NO!" Leo quickly appeared next to the soldier, but he was too late. The soldier was smiling, "I did good, right? She's dead!" He was about to laugh when he realized the mood didn't feel right at all. Using his blades, Leo ran them through his friend's neck as he kicked the shocked and small lychni back. Blood flowed out of his neck and mouth. Leo barked at him, "You idiot!! Now we're all dead!!" Leo started to sweat and shake as he began to think how he'd die when suddenly he felt a strong killing intent lock onto him. Cold sweat drenched his back as he froze in place. Turning around to see who it was, he was stunned once more.
Sonalius felt Riza's lifeforce become incredibly faint while he was fighting and became worried. With blood flowing from the wound in her abdomen and her heart pierced, Sonalius became enraged as his vitality and aura changed. As if a weight was suddenly placed on the soldiers, everyone except Leo and Riza were struggling to stand. He started to dash towards Leo as the other 14 guards were barely standing.
"Seems like you won't be simple, huh?" Leo cautiously, "I doubt that I'd be able to beat someone like you under normal circumstances. But..." Leo flashed over towards Riza and kicked her back down to the ground, causing her to whimper from the pain. With his sword drawn to Riza's neck, he smiled. "What's stopping me from finishing the job?" He said devilishly.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"You'd dare!?!?" Sonalius raged as he stood in place. He couldn't risk Riza's life. Fraught with how to handle such an enemy he started sweating. "What do you want?"
"For you to save her." He simply said.
Sonalius was bewildered at such a request. "What's the catch? It cannot be that simple. Why would you help me?" Leo scoffed at him as he was speaking.
"It's not for you to know. You've studied the law of life right? Surely you have some means of saving her." Leo said.
Sonalius hesitated for a moment but quickly decided to agree. 'If I wait another moment, she'll die.' he thought. "Okay, I agree." He walked up and stuck his fingers into both of Riza's stab wounds. Riza winced slightly before falling unconscious from the pain and blood loss.
"Circulate the blood"
"Regenerate the flesh"
"Circulate the blood"
"Regenerate the flesh"
Sonalius kept chanting as he grew anxious. 'There should be some amount of healing by now!"
"Circulate the blood"
"Regenerate the flesh"
"Circulate the blood"
"Regenerate th-"
"Damn it! Why isn't this working?!?!" Sonalius shouted. "Her bodies natural regeneration, even with me amplifying it to this extent, is still not enough!" He turned to look at Leo, who was sweating after he heard Sonalius.
"Yo-you cannot save her?!?" Leo shrieked in fright as he started to tug his hair. He looked at his dead friend's blade and saw the problem. "He used poison..." Leo fell onto the floor and cursed.
Sonalius also cursed. 'Well, of course, it's not working then!' He looked at Riza's pale face and then back at Leo's fragile figure.
Leo composed himself before sneering, "Hmph, looks like I'm a dead man walking. King Sig'car will be here shortly, and then both of us will die by his hands!" He laughed hysterically, "If she dies, then both of us die too."
"I can save her," Sonalius said.
Leo, who was poised to attack, suddenly reeled himself back with a smile. "You can? Then do it!" He said hurriedly. Her life was akin to his life at this moment. If king Sig'car were to rush over here and find that his only lead was dead because of Leo and his subordinates, wouldn't king Sig'car also kill him? Thus, he needed Sonalius.
Sonalius gave a bitter smile as he frowned.
"I'm sorry honey, it seems like I can't keep my promise to you. Please forgive me..." Sonalius whispered and looked over at Leo, "Leo, was it? Don't blame me for what is about to occur. This is the only way..." Leo stood there in bewilderment as he felt the aura of life around Sonalius become stronger and stronger while he and his team's life force became weaker.
Leo stood feebly as he pointed towards Sonalius, "W-what are you doing?!?"
Sonalius, despite having brought the lychni to their knees, still looked depressed. He raised one finger into the air. "Lifeforce, gather!" Suddenly, all of the petite lychni, Riza, and even Sonalius himself began to have their life drained. By absorbing everyone's life, he could greatly boost his powers temporarily.
"Hang in their Riza!" He quickly rushed to her side as he feared she might pass away. "This is the only method I can think of...Only a forbidden technique would allow me to jump levels enough to heal you from the brink of death." He smiled before lunging his fingers back into her abdomen and heart, stimulating her own lifeforce while transferring his own to her. A few grey hairs surfaced after healing for a couple of moments.
"If only I had known to do this back then, even with it being incomplete..." He sighed as a pained look surfaced on his face. Looking back at Riza, her face's color started to return as her body continued to remove the rest of the poison and heal the internal damage done to her. With haste, he put Riza on one shoulder and the five corpses that were strung up on his other shoulder, then ran away while trying to mask their lifeforce.
A few minutes later, Sonalius heard a loud scream as he felt a strong lifeforce approach the area where they had been.
"YOU CANNOT HIDE FOREVER RIZA! IF I NEED TO, I WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING IN THIS TOWN JUST TO FIND YOU!"
Sonalius shuddered as he heard that explosively loud voice full of hatred and frenzy. "What a Madman...though if someone had killed my kid, I suppose I'd do the same..." he thought. While he was still lost in thought about escaping and where they would hide, he felt movement on his left shoulder.
Riza groaned as she started to speak. Sonalius quickly gave a recap of what happened but modified the part about using a forbidden spell that he created.
"Let's head back to where I was hiding earlier and bury our friends and family. I, I think I can use my powers to help us leave unseen." Riza said. With Sonalius helping block everyone's sixth sense, and Riza blocking everyone's sense of sight, they left almost effortlessly. King Sig'car showed up and circled the entire town wall as he was sensing for Riza, but with the empowerment of a forbidden skill, Sonalius was able to mask both of their presence. Seeing that they were relatively safe, Riza told Sonalius described where she hid. Sonalius then touched her forehead,
"There's no need for you to be awake right now, and your body is still only half-healed. I am going to make to fall into a deep sleep to help your body recover more. Don't resist it." He said in a calm voice. Riza nodded, and a wave of drowsiness flushed over here. It wasn't painful this time, instead, she felt extremely peaceful; Riza quickly succame to the spell and fell asleep.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Back at the town square,
King Sig'car, who was fuming after seeing that not only did his men fail to capture Riza, but even took their prisoner's bodies. This was a direct act of humiliation, and would likely add fuel to the fire for a revolution in Lorea. "What happened here?" He looked at Leo, who was struggling to stand, "Where did she go?"
"Your Holiness, there was another man here that eradicated our people. I believe his name is Sonalius, he has good control with the law of life. He also took off in the east! I managed to severely wound Riza, but that man was too powerful. It felt like he was half a step away from becoming a pseudo-saint" Leo lowered his head as he spoke in fear. "I am sorry your Holiness, I won't let you down again!"
"I forgive you...and I know you won't let me down again." He sighed as he had a cold look on his face.
Puchi!
King Sig'car rushed his hand through Leo's chest, causing blood to splatter. A gaping hole was left where his solar plexus was.
"Your Holiness..." Leo screamed as he fell to the floor with his eyes wide open.
"You knew the rules. Failure means death. No exceptions." He wiped the blood off of his hand and then proceeded to search for Riza and the mysterious man.